How to Sell Magazine Ads on EBay for Fun and Profit Part 2

In a previous article I outlined how to identify ads from magazines to sell for decent profit on eBay. Next I want to help you in getting your ad ready to be listed on eBay. The first step to this process is literally removing the ad from the magazine.

But before we remove the ad, it's always a good idea to check and make sure the magazine itself isn't worth more than the ad you plan to remove from it. A simple eBay search of completed listings will do the trick. For example a search of "1978 Newsweek") might show you which month's issues sell and whether yours is among them. It's no use selling one ad out of a magazine for $5 if you can get$10 from the entire magazine. On the other hand, if you can pull 3-4 ads from it and sell them all it might be more profitable to "scrap" out the magazine.

Once you've decided to remove the ad from the magazine the first thing you have to remember is never harm the condition of the ad. Most ad collectors either frame or scrapbook them so they're not interested in poor conditioned ads. So you just don't want to tear the ad out. If the ad is on the edge of the page you can get away with just tearing the page out and scissor cutting out the ad but most ads are full page so removing them require a little more work. How exactly to remove them depends largely on the type of magazine you're dealing with, particularly which type of binding the magazine has. A lot of older magazines and new skinnier magazines are stapled together. Other newer and thicker magazines are glued together.

With stapled magazines removing ads is much easier but a little harder on the fingernails. No matter where the ad is in the magazine, you should turn to the center of the magazine (where the centerfold might be in a Playboy) and locate the backsides of the staples holding the magazine together. There are usually two or three staples. Carefully unbend the staples with a pair of pliers (or if you don't get manicures, your thumb or fingernails, but be very careful especially if the staples are rusty). Bend the staples straight up and close the magazine. From the binding of the outside edge of the magazine carefully remove the stables by pulling them straight out. Do not force them out. If they will not budge, you might need to go back to the centerfold and pull back the stables so they're easier to remove from the outside. You might even need to push the pointed sides downward with something hard, like a marker or a pencil eraser. Once they're removed, simply find the page where the ad is and separate it from the other pages. You will have its opposing page still connected to it. That's okay. When you put the ad in a plastic sleeve you can just fold the opposing page behind it.

If your magazine has a glued binding, removing an ad is a little trickier but still very manageable. The secret is to tear pages out to the ad. Slowly, carefully tear out 6-8 pages at a time from either the front of the back of the magazine. You'll notice that when the pages tear out if you tear out a larger chunk of pages the ads will taper on their way down, ripping off too much of the ad. To avoid that from happening you need to be very careful in how fast you tear. Never make the ad page the first or last page you're tearing out. It's best to keep it around the middle of the stack. And then repeat the process for the clump of already torn out pages. When you finally tear out the ad page from the others remove it with the page on top of it. Then simply pull the two pages apart. You might want to practice with some other pages first. When your ad is removed, it still might need trimming by a paper cutter. And it still might have some remaining glue residue on the edge. This should be carefully trimmed off. Once your ad is removed from the magazine, it is ready to be listed on eBay.